Clearing the water

Published 7:00 am, Sunday, March 13, 2011

One of the key issues addressed during Thursday's informational meeting about proposed changes to water rules was confusion over just exactly what the rules mean.

While ambiguity can be either a good or bad thing, in this instance it's made a lot of people nervous, as was evident by the more than 100 people who showed up at the Ollie Liner Center for the meeting hosted by the Corn Producers Association of Texas and the Texas Seed Trade Association.

The meeting was in response to proposed changes that would place limits on how much water could be pumped from the Ogallala Aquifer over the next 50 years. The proposed amendments have been presented by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 in Lubbock for public comment and are part of the response to the state mandate for groundwater management areas to come up with plans to protect the state's underground water resources.

HPWD has scheduled a series of public meetings - including one in Plainview at 9 a.m. March 25 at the Plainview Conference Center - at which people can submit testimony.

Dr. Bryan Gentsch, executive vice president of the Texas Seed Trade Association, spent much of the meeting outlining areas of confusion that he and others believe need to be cleared up before the proposed rules are adopted and implemented.

First on the list was a concern over when and where the aquifer would be monitored to determine average decline.

Representatives with HPWD explained that they have a series of 1,200 monitoring wells set up across the region and tried to space them at 9-mile intervals.

Still, Gentsch pointed out, the pumping pressure and saturated thickness of the aquifer varies, and there could be pockets that did not meet the averages if there was too much space between monitoring wells or if not enough wells were checked.

At the same time, he continued, the proposed rules require an annual meter reading recorded between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15 - high decline areas where there has been a change of more than four feet over the past five years would be metered to monitor further changes, according to the rules.

Gentsch pointed out that it would be difficult to determine the accuracy of the meter or if it was even working properly if it was read only once a year.

He also explained that there was confusion over what constituted "contiguous controlled acres." That needed to be cleared up since the proposed amendments would limit pumping to 1.25 feet of water per year for contiguous controlled acres.

Other concerns included:

•The belief that if pumping limitations are enacted, they should be the same for everybody, not singling out one landowner or region over another

•The fact that the proposed rules suggest municipalities could pool their water allotment and move it around across well fields that are scattered across the region, allowing them to pump more water in some areas than their neighbors

•A short time frame before implementation.

As discussion progressed, the issue of "banking" water came up, and it was pointed out that the proposed amendments make no provision for that.

Banking, which is allowed by some GMAs, would enable growers who did not use all of their annual water allotment to have it available for use the next year. In part, that would give a mechanism for taking into account heavy rainfall years such as 2010.

One grower pointed out that it also would serve as possible incentive for conservation because otherwise the mentality of "use it or lose it" would develop across the region.

Ultimately, Amarillo attorney and Castro County landowner Johnny Merritt encouraged a local committee be put together to gather questions and suggestions for improvement from area growers and prepare a presentation for the HPWD meeting in a couple of weeks.

"I know this is a busy time of year, but this is going to affect you the rest of your life," Merritt said.

A committee was formed following the meeting and will meet at 9 a.m. Monday at the Ollie Liner Center. Concerned ag industry leaders and producers are asked to bring their questions and suggestions in written form so they can be compiled.

To comment:

rporter@hearstnp.com

806.296.1361

PUBLIC MEETINGS

Public meetings scheduled by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1: